Through the Pacific Northwest and Canada
by Amtrak, BC Rail and VIA Rail Canada
TO VANCOUVER ON THE MT. BAKER INTERNATIONAL
Saturday, May 05, 2001. Following our own advice, we arrive at King Street Station's baggage room forty five minutes before departure time and recheck our bags to Vancouver. The baggage room is not inside the main waiting room, it is located behind a small door well to the right of the main entrance, and not easily visible. Don't make the mistake of standing in the ticketing line; many passengers are picking up and paying for their tickets at the last minute. Also I have found that there are people who will come to a station ticket office at train time to ask the agent to personally plan and book a lengthy trip for them. Apparently the agent has no choice in the matter, so you may have a 2 minute transaction but may have to wait behind someone planning a transcontinental circle trip.
There are two check-in kiosks, one for the Eugene Cascadia, and one for the Mt. Baker International to Vancouver. Each kiosk has two locations, one for coach and one for Business Class. At check-in, you receive boarding pass stickers with car and seat numbers which are affixed to your ticket jacket. It is rather busy at King Street at this time of day, as the Cascadia is scheduled to leave at 7:30 PM and the Mt. Baker at 7:45 AM. While waiting we have the opportunity to observe the total lack of progress being made on the interior of the building and reflect on how quickly a sports stadium can be built while several years can go by with little visible progress in a rail station renovation program.
We answer the boarding call at 7:35 AM and settle down into our seats in Business Class Coach 2. We observe that both the café and the dining cars are open and serving. Morning papers are available in business class. An overhead monitor screen reports the temperature, time of day, and expected arrival time in Vancouver. We depart on time, but after sitting and waiting for a lift bridge to open, within the first two hours we are thirty minutes behind. This, I have observed, is not unusual, as we on our many trips to Canada, have never arrived into Vancouver at the scheduled arrival time of 11:40 AM. Today, our arrival is at 12:20 PM. The dining car and café car remain open and serving until about 45 minutes before arrival time, so we enjoy a delicious brunch in the diner. Business Class passengers are given a voucher at check-in which is good for $3.00 in either the café car or the dining car.
Upon arrival into Vancouver, passengers are disembarked by coach number, with Business Class leaving the train first. We collect our checked baggage which has been placed on the platform outside the baggage car, and wheel it into the Customs and Immigration area. The procedures are accomplished swiftly and we roll our bags over to the Via Rail Canada check-in area, as we want to pre-check one bag to Jasper and one to Toronto. The Via clerk refuses to accept our bags, telling us that only the baggage man can accept them and the baggage man is busy off loading the Mt. Baker baggage. Since there are two people behind the Via counter, and no customers, we ask if there is some reason why she can't open the baggage room and give us a couple of claim checks. She advises us that she is not allowed to leave her post, then closes her window, puts up a Closed sign and leaves on a break.
After a twenty minute wait, the baggage man appears in the waiting room, and after we explain our situation, takes our bags and gives us two claim checks. Then we go out to stand in the cab line for a taxi to the Sutton Place Hotel. Tomorrow morning we will see the Whistler Northwind for the first time.
Saturday, May 05, 2001. Following our own advice, we arrive at King Street Station's baggage room forty five minutes before departure time and recheck our bags to Vancouver. The baggage room is not inside the main waiting room, it is located behind a small door well to the right of the main entrance, and not easily visible. Don't make the mistake of standing in the ticketing line; many passengers are picking up and paying for their tickets at the last minute. Also I have found that there are people who will come to a station ticket office at train time to ask the agent to personally plan and book a lengthy trip for them. Apparently the agent has no choice in the matter, so you may have a 2 minute transaction but may have to wait behind someone planning a transcontinental circle trip.
We answer the boarding call at 7:35 AM and settle down into our seats in Business Class Coach 2. We observe that both the café and the dining cars are open and serving. Morning papers are available in business class. An overhead monitor screen reports the temperature, time of day, and expected arrival time in Vancouver. We depart on time, but after sitting and waiting for a lift bridge to open, within the first two hours we are thirty minutes behind. This, I have observed, is not unusual, as we on our many trips to Canada, have never arrived into Vancouver at the scheduled arrival time of 11:40 AM. Today, our arrival is at 12:20 PM. The dining car and café car remain open and serving until about 45 minutes before arrival time, so we enjoy a delicious brunch in the diner. Business Class passengers are given a voucher at check-in which is good for $3.00 in either the café car or the dining car.
Upon arrival into Vancouver, passengers are disembarked by coach number, with Business Class leaving the train first. We collect our checked baggage which has been placed on the platform outside the baggage car, and wheel it into the Customs and Immigration area. The procedures are accomplished swiftly and we roll our bags over to the Via Rail Canada check-in area, as we want to pre-check one bag to Jasper and one to Toronto. The Via clerk refuses to accept our bags, telling us that only the baggage man can accept them and the baggage man is busy off loading the Mt. Baker baggage. Since there are two people behind the Via counter, and no customers, we ask if there is some reason why she can't open the baggage room and give us a couple of claim checks. She advises us that she is not allowed to leave her post, then closes her window, puts up a Closed sign and leaves on a break.